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The Chinese And Maginot Gold LinesThere are critical moments in time that can change history. This week I will talk about two lines which are extremely important, as these two lines will change the world for years to come. The first is a Chinese Gold Line which is linked strongly to China’s history. That line has an important connection with what will happen in the world in coming years. The second line is a Maginot Gold Line which will also shape the world for many years or even decades.
The history of China and gold is fascinating and even more so when Japan’s looting of Chinese gold is added to the story. Japan was interested in the Chinese gold since the Sino-Japanese war in 1894. Japan spent time and resources on the Manchurian gold exploration from that time to the end of WWII. Japan is said to have looted considerable amounts of gold from mines in Northeastern China. Not only that, but in 1937 as the Civil War in China was raging and Mao and the communists pushed Chiang Kai Shek out, the Japanese...Tue, 19 Feb 2019 18:22:26 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/the-chinese-and-maginot-gold-lines-1487
The Value Of The Dollar Has No Guarantee WhatsoeverThe statement above is of course totally accurate for a country running budget and trade deficits for over half a century with a total debt, including unfunded liabilities, in the hundreds of trillions of dollars.
It could have been said today, but it actually dates back to August 1971 when the People’s Daily in China declared the beginning of the end for the monetary system of the capitalist world.
This prescient statement certainly has Cassandra characteristics. Cassandra was the princess of Troy who was given the gift to make prophecies that were true but no one believed. The Chinese government saw already 48 years ago that Nixon’s decision to end the gold backing of the dollar would be the end of the dollar and the Western monetary system. No one believed their prophecy at the time. But they are being proven right.
THE CHINESE PREDICTED THE DOLLAR FALL
Starting my working life in a Swiss Bank in Geneva two years before Nixon’s fatal decision, I have experien...Thu, 14 Feb 2019 22:37:54 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/value-the-dollar-has-no-guarantee-whatsoever-1484
Italy's Salvini Suggests Using Gold Reserves To Plug Budget HolesBy Angelo Amante and Steve Scherer
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Monday that the idea of plugging budget holes by using the country’s gold reserves, which are held by the Bank of Italy, could be a good idea.
Earlier, La Stampa newspaper reported the government was considering using part of the country’s gold reserves to avoid a budget correction for this year and a VAT increase in 2020.
“It’s not an issue that I am following, but it could be an interesting idea,” Salvini told reporters in Rome after being asked about the possibility of tapping gold reserves.
Italy minister never heard talk about using Bank of Italy gold
Italian Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio, responding to a newspaper report, said on Monday he had never heard anyone in the government speak about using gold reserves held by the Bank of Italy to plug budget shortfalls.
“I’ve never heard talk in cabinet meetings or any other political settings about gettin...Mon, 11 Feb 2019 19:04:48 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/italys-salvini-suggests-using-gold-reserves-to-plug-budget-holes-1482
China Joins Global Central Bank Gold Rush By Increasing Its Official ReservesBy Zhou Xin, Karen Yeung
China has joined a global central bank gold rush in the last two months by increasing its official gold reserves, even though the purchase remains modest compared to the volume of the mainland’s foreign exchange reserves, according to data released by the People’s Bank of China on Monday.
The country’s gold reserves rose slightly to 59.94 million ounces (1 864 tons) at the end of January from 59.56 million ounces at the end of December 2018, marking a second straight month of increase.
The latest gold purchase by the world’s second-largest economy came at a time when global central banks are hoarding the precious metal. According to the World Gold Council, the amount of gold bought by central banks in 2018 reached the highest annual volume on record since 1971, the year that former US President Nixon Richard scrapped the dollar’s peg to bullion.
China, the world’s largest foreign exchange reserve holder, has been reluctant in diversifyin...Mon, 11 Feb 2019 17:54:18 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/china-joins-global-central-bank-gold-rush-by-increasing-its-official-reserves-1483
France’s Gold As Collateral For Financial Operations : Another Fake News ?As I expected, I didn’t get any reply from the authorities regarding the end of the sanctuarization of Banque de France’s gold. The minister of the Economy referred me to Banque de France, to no avail. Nevertheless, the two articles I’ve written about this issue have garnered a lot of attention, the first one having been read by over 23,000 viewers – that’s without tallying links to other sites –and the second article, which brings forth new evidence,, was viewed by more than 4,000.
This news hasn’t appeared in the media, with the exception of two publications: Politique Magazine interviewed a former executive of Banque de France who spoke of the gravity of the matter:
“When you lease or swap gold, you are actually gambling with it; it’s like taking a mortgage on it. It is clear that when you do that, you lose full ownership of it.”
The second one is Sputnik France, which called Banque de France and got this reply that I will quote in its integrity:
“Thank you...Thu, 07 Feb 2019 06:00:30 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/france-gold-as-collateral-for-financial-operations-another-fake-news-1480
The Relevance Of Gold As A Strategic AssetGold is a highly liquid yet scarce asset, and it is no one’s liability. It is bought as a luxury good as much as an investment. As such, gold can play four fundamental roles in a portfolio:
a source of long-term returns
a diversifier that can mitigate losses in times of market stress
a liquid asset with no credit risk that has outperformed fiat currencies
a means to enhance overall portfolio performance.
Our analysis shows that adding 2%, 5% or 10% in gold over the past decade to the average pension fund portfolio would have resulted in higher risk-adjusted returns.
Why gold, why now
Gold is becoming more mainstream. Since 2001, investment demand for gold worldwide has grown, on average, 15% per year. This has been driven in part by the advent of new ways to access the market, such as physical gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but also by the expansion of the middle class in Asia and a renewed focus on effective risk management following the...Wed, 06 Feb 2019 17:08:33 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/relevance-gold-strategic-asset-investment-portofolio-1481
De Gaulle Convinced No US Gold LeftTinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief
This old nursery rhyme, or counting game, dating back from the late 17th century, could be seen as a prediction of things to come. Many people, from various backgrounds, could soon realise that they may become a poor man, beggar man or thief within the next 5 to 10 years as the world experiences a massive wealth destruction.
Tinker used to be someone who travelled around to mend pans and utensils. The verb Tinker also means to tamper with or manipulate. No one should be under the illusion that the powers that be in any way are tinkering or repairing the world economy. No, the tinkering that is going on tells us that we are now in the very final stages of the biggest manipulation or rigging of the world economy, markets, gold, news, politics and people etc that the world has ever experienced.
THE WORLD IS UNPREPARED FOR WHAT IS TO COME
Since this level of manipulation has never, ever occurred...Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:34:53 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/de-gaulle-convinced-no-usa-gold-left-1479
Central Banks Bought More Gold in 2018 Than Any Year Since 1967By Peter Hobson
A surge in gold purchases by central banks to the highest since 1967 helped push global demand for the metal up 4 percent last year, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.
The world consumed 4,345.1 tonnes of gold in 2018, up from 4,159.9 tonnes in 2017, the WGC said in its latest quarterly demand trends report.
Driving the increase were central banks which bought 651.5 tonnes - 74 percent more than in 2017 and the second highest annual total on record - as countries including China and Poland joined Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan in adding to their reserves, the WGC said.
Jewelry demand was relatively unchanged at 2,200 tonnes, with rising consumption in China, the United States and Russia offsetting a steep decline in the Middle East and a very slight fall in India.
Retail investment in gold bars and coins grew 4 percent to 1,090.2 tonnes - helped by a sharp 222-percent rise in demand in Iran to almost 62 tonnes, according to the WG...Thu, 31 Jan 2019 23:57:28 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/central-banks-bought-more-gold-in-2018-than-any-year-since-1967-1476
Venezuela Begins Shipping 29 Tons Of Gold To UAEBy Corina Pons, Mayela Armas
Venezuela will sell 15 tonnes of gold from central bank vaults to the United Arab Emirates in coming days in return for euros in cash, a senior official with knowledge of the plan said, in an effort by the troubled OPEC member to stay solvent.
The sale this year of gold reserves that back the bolivar currency began with a shipment on Jan. 26 of 3 tonnes, and follows the export last year of $900 million of mostly unrefined gold to Turkey.
In total, the plan is to sell 29 tonnes of gold held in Caracas by February, the source said, requesting anonymity in order to speak freely.
The 3-tonne shipment that left Maiquetia airport on Jan. 26 was transported on small Venezuelan cargo airline Solar Cargo to the United Arab Emirates. The same airline will be used to ship 15 tonnes as soon as Friday, and 11 tonnes in February, the source said.
In recent days, the arrival of two Russian-operated planes at Maiquetia fired up rumors in Venezuel...Thu, 31 Jan 2019 20:47:07 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/venezuela-begins-shipping-29-tons-central-bank-gold-united-arab-emirates-1478
If You Understand Gold – You Are Not A GoldbugWhat is a Goldbug? If we look at Wikipedia, they define it as “a person who is extremely bullish on the commodity gold as an investment and or a standard for measuring wealth… goldbug can also be used as a pejorative”.
Investopedia states that “A gold bug is an individual who is very enthusiastic about gold as an investment and its prospects for significantly increasing in value.”
Finally the Free Dictionary defines goldbug as “1. A person, especially an economist or politician, who supports the gold standard or 2. A person who believes in buying gold bullion as a personal investment or 3. A gold beetle.”
Since less than 0.5% of world financial assets are in gold, most people neither hold gold, nor understand the purpose of gold. The people who understand the real value of gold could only agree with one of the definitions above – a goldbug is a gold beetle. There could be no argument about that clear definition.
Many people use goldbug scathingly as a pejorative...Thu, 31 Jan 2019 10:05:07 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/if-you-understand-gold-you-are-not-goldbug-1474
Bank Of England Urged To Hand Over Venezuela's Gold To GuaidóBloomberg reports that Maduro's embattled regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Bank of England’s (BoE) decision to deny Maduro officials’ withdrawal request comes after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.
U.S. officials are now trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The $1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank.
Just hours after The Bank of England refused to hand over $1.2 billion of Venezuela's gold from its custod...Tue, 29 Jan 2019 23:35:33 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/bank-of-england-urged-hand-over-venezuela-gold-guaido-1475
Switzerland Gold Imports & Exports in 20182018 Swiss gold imports and exports - Annual charts.Tue, 29 Jan 2019 16:16:57 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/2018-switzerland-gold-imports-exports-1477
The End of Sanctuarization of Banque de France’s Gold : New EvidenceMy last article on the end of sanctuarization of the Banque de France’s gold grabbed a lot of attention, drawing over 20 000 readers and getting nearly 500 re-tweets. However, this news hasn’t made it to the main stream media – maybe it sounded too much like a conspiracy theory (a ridiculous accusation, and I challenge anyone to find any trace of that in my eight books; I only use public data and known sources). So let’s get back to this important issue.
This information – the creation of a gold market between Banque de France and JP Morgan – was dispatched by Reuters on November 12. And there was no accompanying statement to the news, which is a little bizarre, denoting a troubling taste for secrecy. The primary source for Reuters is an article by Sylvie Goulard, second deputy governor of the Banque de France, in the October Alchemist magazine. Since we have free access to it, let’s read it!
First of all, an observation: "Since the 2008 financial crisis, there...Thu, 24 Jan 2019 06:15:25 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/end-sanctuarization-banque-france-gold-new-evidence-1473
Gold – The Only Safe PlaceIn 2019 the investment world will start to realise that asset markets don’t grow to heaven as stocks, bonds and property start their long journey down which will eventually lead to declines of 75% to 95% in real terms. But the major risk is not just investment markets. Just as important is counterparty risk which too few investors are concerned about.
Anyone who wants to protect their wealth should not be invested in any of the bubble asset markets as I have stated in many articles. But to also avoid counterparty risk is a lot harder.
It is clear that it will be extremely hard to navigate investment markets between Scylla and Charybdis (a rock and a hard place). For the few investors who early on get out of the risky asset markets fuelled by credit expansion and money printing, many other dangers remain.
FEW INVESTORS WORRY ABOUT COUNTERPARTY RISK
Counterparty risk is the risk associated with the other party to a financial transaction not meeting its obligations...Thu, 24 Jan 2019 05:06:33 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/gold-the-only-safe-place-1467
Venezuela Gold Holdings in Bank of England Soar on Deutsche DealVenezuela’s gold holdings in the Bank of England have jumped after it closed out a gold swap deal with Deutsche Bank, according to two sources, as Britain remains reluctant to release gold held for the troubled OPEC nation.
The government of Nicolas Maduro has since last year been seeking to repatriate about $550 million in gold from the Bank of England on fears it could be caught up in international sanctions on the country.
Its holdings at the bank more than doubled in December to 31 tonnes, or around $1.3 billion, after Venezuela returned funds it had borrowed from Deutsche Bank AG through a financing arrangement that uses gold as collateral, known as a swap, one of the sources said.
Under the deal struck with Deutsche Bank in 2015, Venezuela put up 17 tonnes of gold in exchange for a loan, according to one of the sources who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.
The country’s gold holdings fell to 134...Tue, 22 Jan 2019 16:38:06 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/venezuela-gold-holdings-bank-of-england-soar-on-deutsche-bank-deal-1470
Russia Becomes World's Fifth Largest Gold HolderBy Polina Devitt, Elena Fabrichnaya
Russia has overtaken China to become the world’s fifth largest official sector holder of gold as Western sanctions drove buying by its central bank to record highs in 2018, its data showed on Friday.
With support from President Vladimir Putin, the central bank has been betting heavily on bullion, often seen as a safe haven or a natural hedge against the dollar, with active purchases in the last 10 years.
In 2018, Russia’s buying jumped further as holdings of U.S. Treasury securities were reduced after Washington imposed sanctions on Russian entities in April, the toughest since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The central bank bought 8.8 million troy ounces last year, it said on Friday, beating a record 7.2 million ounces set in 2017.
As of Jan. 1 this year, the central bank held 67.9 million ounces of gold, up from 59.1 million ounces at the start of 2018, making it the world’s fifth largest holder behind t...Sun, 20 Jan 2019 06:26:34 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/russia-becomes-worlds-fifth-largest-gold-holder-1468
Times A-Changin’ – But Gold PermanentLong term holders of gold have a different perspective of the world. They are not believers in instant gratification. Nor do they believe that a world based on money printing and debt can create sustainable wealth. They also know that the socialism which has spread like a plague in the Western world only works until you run out of other people’s money.
What makes gold the most obvious wealth preservation investment and insurance against a false financial system is its permanence. The proof of this is indisputable since gold is the only money that has survived for 5,000 years. Ephemeral financial systems and currencies come and go, so do empires. But gold survives them all. As JP Morgan stated: “Money is gold and nothing else”.
WHY BET AGAINST A 5,000 YEAR SUCCESS
Anybody who doesn’t understand gold, neither studies nor understands history. There is nothing magic about gold, it is just real money. But since it is the only surviving currency why bet against a 5,000 y...Wed, 16 Jan 2019 18:33:52 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/times-are-changing-but-gold-permanent-1464
Gold & Silver Seasonal MovementsGold and silver seasonal movements vs 2018 price action.Tue, 15 Jan 2019 16:52:10 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/gold-silver-seasonal-movements-2018-price-action-1466
China: SGE Gold Withdrawals for 2018Chinese Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) Withdrawals for 2018.Sat, 12 Jan 2019 16:50:54 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/china-shanghai-gold-exchange-gold-withdrawals-year-2018-1463
Alert: Banque de France’s Gold Isn’t Sanctuarized AnymoreIn November, the press, as well as GoldBroker, announced the creation of a gold market in Paris, associating the Banque de France and the American bank JP Morgan. The news didn’t make any headlines and wasn’t much commented on, but now is the time to review this creation by shedding a new light on it, along with some revelations.
First, let’s point out that this is not a gold market in the traditional sense, namely that would quote Napoléons and bars, the two preferred pillars of the precious metal in France. That type of market has existed from 1948 to 2004, but its trading volume, too small, due to a heavier tax system than in the other European countries, led to its demise.
As a very well informed article in Revue Banque explains, Banque de France’s gold reserves will be “mobilized” in order to guarantee gold/currencies swaps and gold leasing. As of now, only other central banks will be able to use those financial products with the Banque de France, but since it...Thu, 10 Jan 2019 06:15:50 +0000https://www.goldbroker.com/news/alert-banque-de-france-gold-isnt-sanctuarized-anymore-jpmorgan-1461